Annealing base



June 18, 1940.

c. E. FREELAND ANNEALING BASE Filed May 6, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ZSnventor. 0mm 5 5 fkfamva.

attorneys.

Patented June 18, 1M0

UNITED STATES ANNEALING BASE Charles E. Freeland, Butler, Pa., assignor to The American Rolling Mill Uompany, iiflddletown, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application May 6, 1939, Serial No. 272,204

3 Claims.

This invention relates to an annealing base. In annealing stacks of sheets of metal in an annealing furnace means are provided for supporting a stack of sheets, and in many cases, as, for

example, where it is desired to have a controlled atmosphere, an annealing cover is placed over the stack of sheets. In the past the annealing base has been made from a single casting including a flat portion to serve as a support for a m stack of sheets and an annular trough surrounding the flat portion and adapted to receive the bottom edge of an annealing cover, the trough being filled with sand or the like for sealing purposes. When such an annealing assembly was 15 placed in an annealing furnace, the outer portion of the base including the trough was of course directly subjected to the heat of the furnace and. thus heated up more rapidly than the inner portion upon which the stack of sheets rested. Likewise upon being removed from the furnace the outer portion cooled much more rapidly than the inner portion. The result of this was that the annealing bases became badly warped in a relatively short time and after continued use the bases would split or' crack whereupon they were rendered useless. Thus the entire base had to be replaced at great expense.

Such practice is extremely wasteful and expensive, and it is therefore an object of my in- 39 ventlon to provide an annealing base which will not be subject to warpage and splitting to the same degree as present types of bases. It is a further object of my invention to provide a base such as is outlined above which is made in sections whereby if one section should split, only that section need be discarded and replaced. Still another object of my invention is to provide means for sealing the joints between the separate pieces of the base and to provide an annealing base which may expand or contract 40 without breaking the sealing connection. It is a still further object of my invention to provide an annealing base in which the central or stack supporting portion is separate from the trough 5 portion which serves to seal the base of the annealing cover and in this connection it is a still further object of my invention to provide an arrangement for sealing the central portion to the trough portion.

50 These and'other objects of my invention which will be pointed out hereinafter or which will be apparent to one skilled in the art upon reading this specification, I accomplish by that certain construction and arrangement of parts of which I shall now describe an exemplary embodiment.

constituting the trough portion of the base ac- PATENT @FFICE Reference is made to the drawings forming a part hereof and in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the supporting plate for a stack of sheets.

Figure 2 is a cross sectional view of the same taken on the line II-II of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a plan view of an assembly of pieces cording to my invention.

Figure 4 is a view of the same taken on the. line IV--IV of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a detail perspective view of one of the sealing elements.

Figure 6 is a transverse cross sectional view through an annealing furnace and the annealing cover and base showing the position of the various parts during an annealing operation.

Figure 7 is a plan view of a portion of the trough portion of thebase showing the sealing members in position and a quantity of sand in the channels.

Briefly in the practice of my invention I provide an annealing base consisting of a central stack supporting portion and a plurality of trough portions having a double channel cross section. The central supporting portion is provided with a flange adapted to seat in the inner channel of the trough portion while the annealing cover is adapted to seat in the outer channel of the trough portion. The trough portion is made in segments and means are provided for insuring sealing between adjacent segments. Thus the trough portion of the base may have independent movement with respect to the central supporting portion and the individual sega ments may have movement relative to each other so that the portion of the base which is subjected to rapid changes in temperature is capable of more or less free movement without disturbing the central portion which supports the stack of sheets. In this manner any warpage of the trough portions is not transmitted to the central portion which remains perfectly flat whereby distortion of the charge during annealing is prevented.

In Figures 1 and 2 I have shown a support for a stack of sheets. This support may be made from cast iron-or the like and comprises a plate It having on its upper surface a plurality of upstanding ribs H which may be zigzag formation to permit the passage of air currents beneath the stack of sheets. The member ID is provided with an annular depending flange I2 which is braced to the plate It by means of the ribs I 3.

In practice a flat plate 14 is placed upon the ribs II and the plate l4 serves to support the stack of sheets indicated in Figure 6 at l5.

Referring to Figure 6 before proceeding with the description of the trough portions themselves, I will describe the general annealing assembly. As shown a truck l6 provided with wheels i1 rides upon tracks l8 whereby it may be pushed into or withdrawn from the furnace proper indicated generally at l9. Centrally of the floor of the car it there is provided a supporting block 20 upon which the plate I0 rests with the flange l2 depending downwardly annularly of the block 20. Provision is made in a conventional manner as by means of a tube 2| for the insertion of a thermocouple for measuring the temperature of the sheets in the furnace. The trough portion indicated in Figure 6 generally at 22 rests upon the member l6 and it will be noted that the depending flange 12 of the member l0 enters into the inner of the two channels in the trough. The annealing cover indicated generally at 23 is placed over the stack of sheets and the bottom edges of the cover 23 enter into the outer of the channels in the trough 22. As shown in Figure 6 the bottom edges of the annealing cover and the bottom edges of the flange l2 are sealed by means of sand or the like as indicated at 24. It will be noted that the truck i8 is provided with flanges lfia which are adapted to enter the channels lSa on the furnace wall. The channels |9a are filled with sand or the like as shown at |9b so as to seal off the space above the floor l6 from the under carriage of the truck.

Referring now to Figures 3 and 4, the trough portion consists of a number of segments each of which is of double channel shape in cross section as best seen in Figure 4. 'It will be clear that the trough may be made from any suitable number of pieces although I have found in practice that four angle pieces together defining the ends of the base with one or more straight pieces on each side will prove satisfactory. In Figures 3 and 4 I have shown the four corner pieces at 25 and the straight pieces at 26. It will be clear that for convenience all the straight pieces 26 may be made identical and all the corner pieces 25 may be made identical.

It will be noted from Figure 4 that adjacent the ends of each piece there is an offset portion indicated at 21. These offset portions when the trough is in assembled position provide clearance for the joining members 28 shown in detail in Figure 5. The members 28 as is clear are of channel shaped cross section and substantially fill the offset portions 21.

In use the parts are assembled as shown in Figure '7 and the channels are filled with sand or similar material. The member ID is then put in position and the annealing charge is stacked and the cover is then put on as is clear from Figure 6.

In this way it will be seen that I have provided an annealing base which will serve to seal of! the atmosphere within the cover from that outside the cover and which by virtue of the segmental construction will permit of relative movement of the pieces whereby warpage is greatly reduced and which permits of the replacement of any piece which on account of warpage has split or become unusable for any reason. A replacement of a single piece, of course, involves only a fractional part of the cost of replacing an entire base.

It will be clear that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention, and I therefore do not intend to limit myself otherwise than as set forth in the claims which follow.

Having now fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An annealing base comprising a central sheet supporting member and a plurality of pieces each having a double channel cross section, said pieces in assembled relation defining a pair of adjacent annular channels, said first mentioned member having a dependent annular flange adapted to seat in the inner of said channels, and joining means for the ends of said pieces in which the pieces are free to move to compensate for expansion and contraction.

2. An annealing base comprising a central sheet supporting member and a plurality of pieces each having a double channel cross section, said pieces in assembled relation defining a pair of adjacent annular channels, said first mentioned member having a dependent annular flange adapted to seat in the inner of said channels, and joining means for said pieces, said joining means comprising channel shaped elements adapted to overlap the ends of adjacent pieces.

3. An annealing base comprising a central sheet supporting member and a plurality of pieces each of double channel cross section, said pieces when in assembled relation defining a pair of annular channels, said pieces adjacent their ends having offset portions, and sealing members comprising channel shaped members arranged to be seated in said offset portions, said first mentioned member having a depending annular flange adapted to seat in the inner of said channels.

CHARLES E. FREELAND. 

